The Reunion (Or, Maggie Is Terrible At Spying And Beth Is Bemused)
by amukay
Summary: Beth x Daryl. Maggie and Daryl sit watch on guard duty when Daryl disappears into the undergrowth. Maggie pursues. T for language.
1. I

A/N: This is my first TWD fanfic. Please play nice kids!

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"All I'm saying, Daryl, is that if you wanna read something good instead of that awful dime novel, try Daniel Dafoe. Robinson Crusoe is like... you'd get him. He survives cannibals and all kinds of things... The book practically started the survival genre," Maggie was saying to Daryl as they sat on watch together in the dusky moonlight.

"Hmm," was Daryl's profound response.

Maggie sighed to herself, looking back down at the wood she was whittling with her knife. She had absolutely no idea what she was making, but sometimes when you were on guard duty it just felt good to be pretending to be doing something useful.

"I reckon you'd really like him if you gave it a go," she continued. "We could try pick some better books up on a run. I know Carol would appreciate it."

Maggie knew Daryl was kinda smart, just not in the way of book learning. Quite a few of their group weren't too big on reading. The trouble was, with no electricity anymore, there wasn't much else to do with your free time other than read.

Daryl snorted, making it clear what he thought of Greene women trying to educate him. If Maggie knew her sister at all, she would hazard a strong bet that Beth spent most of her time alone with Daryl trying to open him up to her way of thinking.

_Beth_...

Maggie hated that she didn't know where her sister was, although she had this kinda gut feeling that she was still out there somewhere, alive. They couldn't have the rest of the group make it back together okay and just Beth end up dead by herself. It wasn't fair. She refused to believe it.

Maggie looked across the camp of sleeping bodies to one of the trees she'd painted the name "BETH" on. Glen and Daryl had been helping her do it. There was such a small hope she'd be there reading the signs but...

The group had seen a van with a cross on the back windows drive past on the road about three days ago. Seeing a working vehicle on the road was a rarity in itself, and Daryl seemed sure it had something to do with Beth's whereabouts, referring to the vehicle that had taken her in the first place. The group had eventually agreed (under the blazing glares of Maggie and Daryl) that if they saw another vehicle, or any other sign, that they'd pursue it. Rick was just sorry they hadn't managed to track the vehicle before it was long gone. They didn't know if they'd get another opportunity.

The thought was very sobering.

Abraham and Rick seemed keen to push on for Washington DC in the meanwhile, although Daryl didn't seem all that convinced by Eugene and his closely guarded save-the-world knowledge. She thought the exact words he'd used were something along the lines of "Load of bullshit. Ain't no cure." Secretly, Maggie kinda agreed with him.

Maggie and Daryl had sorta become... Well, _friends _wasn't the right word. Allies? They'd bonded on guard duty in recent weeks over talking about Beth. Maggie guessed that the two of them being holed up together for a couple of weeks had meant they'd got close. The way Daryl spoke about things she'd done or said was as a man who _got _her. He definitely seemed pretty melancholy when Beth was brought up in conversation and equal parts determined to find her.

Maggie was happy to take all the support she could get, even from the unlikeliest of quarters.

A faint rustling in the shadows of the wilderness caused Daryl's ears to immediately perk up, his eyes suddenly alert. Maggie had barely even noticed.

"You hear somethin'?" She asked him quietly.

Daryl held his finger to his lips, effectively shushing her. Maggie pursed her lips, trying not to act indignant. Daryl sometimes treated her like she was some kinda city girl who hadn't ever seen a wild animal or a farm. Left hand instinctively reaching for the strap of his crossbow, he rose silently to his feet.

"Prolly nothin'," he muttered. "Stay here."

She knew someone had to stay and keep watch, so she didn't argue. Not that she could've changed his mind if she'd wanted to.

"Alright. Be safe."

He nodded curtly and, without so much as a backwards glance, he disappeared into the bushes. Maggie thought he looked like some sorta panther, slinking through the undergrowth like he'd spent his whole life out there prowling in the woods. He probably had, she thought, with a twinge of sadness. She hadn't really consciously realised it at the time, but living in the world as it was now had made Maggie understand that life on the farm in that chocolate box house with all her family and friends around her had been pretty easy. She'd certainly never had to worry about when the next time she'd get to eat or if her daddy was gonna throw a rage and kick her out the cold.

Life on the farm had been simple and happy. Maggie had always felt a bit useless, though. She didn't want to just get married and have babies on her own farm - she'd wanted something _more. _As terrible as it might be to say, killing walkers and surviving out here was something she was pretty darn good at. And Glen. She couldn't imagine a world without Glen anymore.

Daryl hadn't come back yet. It must've been five minutes since he'd gone. Maybe he'd run into a few walkers? Maybe even... people. It was a strange world indeed when the living were more dangerous than the dead. She looked across at the others asleep on the ground. Carl stirred slightly, but he didn't wake.

Oh screw _this._

Making sure her knife was firmly holstered at her side, Maggie grabbed her gun and edged cautiously into the bushes. She wouldn't go far and leave the group completely unprotected, just see if she could hear any sign of trouble. Daryl'd do the same, she reckoned.

After traipsing through the undergrowth for about a minute or two, she heard the sounds of hushed voices. Quickly darting behind the first tree she could find, all leafy and made up of low branches, she sucked in a breath.

She didn't know what she was expecting to find, but Daryl clearly wasn't alone. Maggie hesitated, not wanting to be seen yet, especially if it turned out she was hearing things (Daryl already thought she was crazy) and clambered up the tree onto the first low branch.

Peering cautiously through the thick leaves, grateful for the light of the full moon, she could make out Daryl's face. His eyebrows were knitted together in concern, hands resting on the uppers arms of the petite and slim blonde girl standing before him.

A faint bubbling of hope welled up inside Maggie.

It couldn't be... It...

The blonde girl was clearly explaining something in hushed undertones whilst Daryl nodded and continued gripping her arms. The blonde girl smiled and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, turning her face to the side.

Happiness _exploded_ inside of Maggie. She couldn't believe it... It _was _Beth! She looked much older somehow but it was _her_; she was alive! After all this time! Just as she was about to cry out to her, overwhelming relief flooding through her body, something happened. Maggie saw Beth throw herself into Daryl's arms, flinging her arms round his neck.

What. The. Hell.

Maggie's hand shot to cover her mouth and the offending gasp threatening to escape.

Daryl was cautiously leaning into the Beth's iron-like grip, whispering something into her baby sister's ear while one of his hands slowly stroked her hair. Maggie was struggling to process what was happening. Daryl? And her Beth? I mean, she'd known from the way Daryl spoke they'd gotten pretty close but close like _that_?

Eventually, after what seemed like hours (but, in reality, was most likely about a minute) Beth drew away from Daryl's arms and contended herself with lacing her fingers with his. Beth was smiling serenely and Maggie thought she could make out a pink tinge on Daryl's cheeks. The aloof and inscrutable Daryl Dixon! Blushing!

They turned back in the direction of the camp and Maggie yelped, struggling to quickly untangle herself from the branch and head off into camp before she was caught spying. This was _not_ the way she wanted to reunite with her sister. In her urgency to escape, she snagged her foot on one of the branches. Sensing the inevitable, Maggie came tumbling down in a mass of leaves and curses, landing in a jumble mess on the ground before the bemused pair.

"_Maggie?" _Beth said incredulously, hand still entwined with Daryl's, staring down at the crumpled heap before her.

Fuck.

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A/N: I know Maggie seems a little erratic, but I think we can let her off considering the shitstorm of emotions she just went through. Thoughts?


	2. II

A/N: A few reviewers suggested I continue this and... well, I couldn't resist. This is Daryl's point of view. I'm in the middle of writing a Bethyl AU, so I might consider opening this up again... but, for now, it's a two-parter.

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Beth didn't like travelling at night, but she hadn't come across anything that resembled suitable shelter. It was so tiring, doing this all by yourself. She thought of Michonne and Carol and wondered how they did it. It was too dangerous to fall asleep in the woods alone. When it had been her and Daryl, they could take turns on watch if they were somewhere unfamiliar. Even though, Beth acknowledged, Daryl did more than his fair share of staying up at night alone.

It had been two days since she had left that... place.

_The place (Beth wouldn't call it her home - NEVER her home) was a disused hospital. Beth wondered if the smell of death had always been in the air, even before the world went to shit. Hospitals are a bizarre place, toeing the line between life and death with methodical prospect. The City of Hope hospital (yes, even Beth could acknowledge the irony) had been her captor for three weeks._

_Three weeks without him, without knowing if he was still alive._

_The City of Hope was under strict leadership. Everyone had their jobs to do. The Righteous were the group who enforced the local law. They paraded around in police uniforms to lend them an undeserved level of respectability. It was hard not to subconsciously react to a uniform. If you did something wrong, it was the Righteous who you would have to answer to._

_The leader of the Righteous was known only as Aisha. She was a woman of medium height, hard faced but not ugly, hair pulled back into a tight bun which gave her an air of efficiency and stoic coldness. _

_Aisha was one of the few women who belonged to the Righteous. What made Aisha so terrifying was the way she rewarded her male Righteous members. Any slick young girl who lived at the City of Hope could be made 'available' to members of the Righteous if Aisha thought they warranted it. Beth thought that Aisha didn't just do it to try and placate her male subordinates, but that she got off on the power itself. Whispers from some mouths said that Aisha often watched when one of the Righteous was enjoying his spoils. _

_The thought made Beth sick._

Beth paused for a second as she came across another tree. In bloody writing the name "BETH" had been smeared on the tree. She felt the familiar flutter of happiness settle in her stomach. She couldn't tell whose writing it was, but it meant that at least _some_ of the group had survived.

Reading those signs was all that was keeping her going.

Daryl had taught her a bit of tracking, but those trees were darn well obvious, which Beth was grateful for. In her delirious state of mind she didn't know good her tracking skills would be. She was so _tired _all the time from the running (always running) after her escape.

She thought back to the day she had left the City of Lies. She had been brought before Aisha for refusing to help pin down another girl who had to be punished for disobedience. Aisha liked using knives to punish. Cutting. Bleeding. Slicing. Beth wanted to cut out Aisha's withered heart and burn it.

_You are a nasty, devious little girl who needs to learn her place here."_

_Beth's chin rose defiantly. _

_"Oh? And what if I don't wanna learn?" _

_Aisha's eyes flashed; her white palm raised in ready anger. _

_"Disobedience," Smack. "will not," Smack. "be tolerated!" Smack._

_Crumpling to a heap on the ground, Beth bit her lip to keep herself from crying out. Her cheek felt like it was on fire - could feel the flames soaking into her skin. She wouldn't let this woman see her suffer; let her know the pain - no, the hurt - was getting to her. Beth had seen a documentary on cults before the world had ended... She knew that Aisha's power depended upon her breaking down Beth's emotional barriers. She had to stay strong. Only one bitch was winning this fight._

_She looked up at the gun resting on the table above her and smiled_.

Beth was distracted from her thoughts by a faint rustling in the distance. She gripped her knife firmly in her right hand, slightly crouched, listening to the noise. It was unlikely to be prey and the movements were too even to be a walker. Walkers had many ways of sneaking up on you, but they weren't known for being real quiet.

"Who's there?" she said sharply, knife raised high above her shoulder, poised to strike. Her eyes darted around quickly, body tense, until they rested on something she didn't think was even possible.

"_Daryl?_"

His eyes were wide, face frozen in shock. It was as if he didn't really believe she was there.

"Daryl," she repeated, edging forwards slowly as if she was hunting game that could spoke at any moment. "Daryl, it's me."

"Beth," he croaked, finally.

She stood before him, an soft smile hovering on her lips. He looked good, if a little slimmer than he was before. Didn't look like he'd eaten all that much lately.

"Told you you'd miss me when I was gone," she said coyly.

He gave a sharp bark of laughter, stepping forward to grip her upper arms in his.

"Beth fucking Greene," he announced, like that was the first time he'd ever said her name. "It is you."

She nodded shyly. "It's me."

"You saw them notes we painted ya on the trees?" he asked, stroking her arms slightly as if he still didn't really believe she was real.

"We?" she asked, failing miserably to hide the hope in her voice.

He gave an uncharacteristically wide grin. "Ya sister, me and Glen wrote em. The whole group's here and -"

"Everyone? Even Judith?" Beth asked in a small voice. Daryl nodded and she let out a noise that was half a cry and half a sob.

"Lil' Asskicker is doing just fine. We all made it to Terminus then we... They weren't real good people... We had to leave. Carol and Tyreese helped us escape. We been heading to DC ever since with this big red headed fella and this whack job scientist who thinks he's gonna save us all." Daryl snorted.

Beth's lips twitched. "You ain't too fond of him?" she asked innocently.

"Hell no. He's just some crazy sonabitch who thinks he got the answer to life in that thick skull of his," Daryl scoffed. "Ain't no cure, that's what I been saying to everyone. Crazy old coot with his dumb hairstyle."

Beth threw back her head and let out a loud laugh.

"I've missed you, Daryl Dixon," she said fondly.

Daryl looked suddenly a little uncomfortable and let go of her arms to scratch the back of his head. If Beth didn't know any better, she'd almost think he was going to start blushing.

"You too," he eventually gruffed back, looking as if he'd had to force those words out with considerable effort. By now Beth had gotten too used to his emotionally stunted reactions to be surprised.

Seeming to recover himself a bit, he asked: "Tell me what happened. Who took ya? Where did ya go?"

The smile faltered slightly on Beth's face. Sighing deeply, she began to tell him all about the couple who'd grabbed her, the City of Hope hospital, all about the strict rules they had and... Aisha. By the time she reached this part of the story, she could feel her throat was thick with emotion. When she told Daryl what Aisha had done to her and the other girls, he gripped her upper arms so forcefully she thought they would bruise.

"...She couldn't be stopped, I mean she was _evil _Daryl a-and... I killed her. I shot her," Beth blurted out, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. "Her brains splattered all over me and the... the worst thing was I was _happy _about it."

Daryl, hands holding her tightly, looking at her with such a fierce expression in his eyes that she was stunned into silence.

"She was an evil bitch Beth, you did right by stopping her. What she did do those girls, that's shit no human being would do."

Beth nodded furiously, biting her lip to try and stem the flow of tears.

"You're... you're right."

"-And if nothin' else, you managed to shoot the bitch _right_," he said matter-of-factly. "Normally when ya got a gun the trees take more damage than a walker does. Hell, I bet half the forest goes into hiding when it hears your cowhanded self comin'."

Beth knew he was deliberately trying to cheer her up in the only way he knew how. Insulting her skill with a weapon. It was so sweet and so _Daryl_ that she couldn't help but throw herself into his arms with enough force to wind him, flinging her arms around his neck.

"Thank you," she whispered, smiling softly as his hair tickled her nose.

Daryl froze for a second, clearly taken aback by her violent display of affection.

"Hey now girl, it's alright."

After having some sort of internal debate with himself, he settled for wrapping his arms around her, one hand stroking her messy blonde hair. She had no idea how long they stayed like that, standing there together in the forest like they were the only two people in the world. She needed the comfort... No, she needed _Daryl's _comfort. Beth didn't wanna read too much into it just yet, but she thought it had to be telling she hadn't already run like a lunatic towards camp in search of Maggie, Judith and the others.

Eventually, Daryl separated them. Beth contented herself with lacing her fingers in his, not ready to give up on being clingy just yet. The pink tinge of Daryl's cheeks indicated he didn't mind all that much either.

"C'mon," he said, giving her hand a squeeze. "Maggie is sat on watch and she'll be so excited when I bring ya back with me."

"I hope so."

"Bet she pisses herself," he added, almost gleefully.

"Gross," Beth replied, although she allowed Daryl to lead her back in the direction of the camp. She _was _really excited to see them all again. It seemed too good to be true, them all getting out together. It had been nearly two months since she'd see any of the group.

As they walked back together, there was a faint rustling in the trees. The rustling seemed to get even louder and Beth and Daryl looked up just in time to see a pretty brunette come crashing out of the trees to land in a crumpled heap at their feet, swearing like a sailor.

"_Maggie,_" Beth breathed, uttering someone's name in disbelief for the second time in one day. She looked across at Daryl, who looked equally surprised. Looking down at their joined hands, Beth quickly snapped her hand out of Daryl's grip. She didn't want to look at him to see his reaction. She wasn't ready to deal with whatever _this _was. Especially not with her over-protective sister rolling around on the ground in front of them.

"Crap." Maggie muttered, huffing to herself. "Bethy, I am _so _happy to see you but please help me out of this tangled heap before I lose it."

Beth and Daryl bent over to help untangle her from the mass of twigs and leaves, chuckling to themselves. She really had managed to get herself into a mess. A bramble was sticking out at an odd angle from her bob. Beth bit her lip.

"It's not funny," Maggie growled at the pair of them, getting to her feet as she brushed all the greenery off her clothes.

"It's a _little _funny," Beth said, before pulling Maggie in for a hug.

"Beth..."

"I am so happy you're okay, Maggie," Beth said sincerely.

"You too girl. Wasn't the same without my little sister," Maggie replied, clinging Beth to her. Daryl hovered in the background, averting his eyes from the sisters moment. He didn't wanna pry.

"You might squeeze the life outta me if you don't ease up though," Beth chuckled, looking across her sister's shoulder at Daryl hanging back.

"Hah, sorry," Maggie mumbled, admonished.

"Daryl said everyone made it out." Beth said, bringing him back to the conversation. He'd had an equal part in painting them trees, it seemed. She didn't want Maggie to forget about all that now she was back. "C'mon, lets go on and meet them all. They need to get their fair share of squeezing me to death too. It's only fair."

Maggie chuckled to herself and nodded, picking up her abandoned knife to head in the direction of camp. They had left the others alone for too long anyway. Maggie took Beth's arm in hers and the two of them raced on ahead, almost skipping, babbling to each other about various nonsense.

A quiet Daryl followed behind, not wanting to get in the way. He felt almost jealous of the close bond the two had. If Daryl ever tried to skip along with Merle, no matter the situation, he thought his brother would've locked him up in a looney bin. Girls just seemed comfortable with all that mushy feelings and affection shit. Merle's idea of affection was a slap on the back.

The three of them walked on a little ways, before Beth looked over her shoulder. Daryl saw her hang back a little bit, to walk beside him.

"She didn't piss herself," she whispered in a hushed undertone.

Despite himself, Daryl had to laugh.

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